Sand Aura – first impressions

Sand Aura hail from Egypt, and are part of a post-Orphaned Land wave of oriental metal bands that are emerging in the wake of that band’s success. Sand Aura are featured on this compilation (created in part by Kobi from Orphaned Land), which I must buy at some point. They are a young band, with little in the way of online exposure (bar FB and SoundCloud).

They are, however, a very promising band, showing both their influences and their ideologies with their music, atmosphere and lyrics. The two tracks available on Soundcloud show the band’s range of styles and the musician’s abilities in a succinct and most satisfying manner. While the influence of Orphaned Land is clear to any educated listener, Sand Aura also bring in terrific female vocals, some cracking Egyptian folksy elements, some proper guttural lows and, at one point, some jazz-fusion style lead work – very unexpected! They plainly have stacks of talent and ambition to boot, so keep an eye on these boys – they could go far.